Feudal

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈfjuːdl̩/

Definitions

1. Relating to a medieval system where lords granted land to vassals in exchange for military service and loyalty
2. Pertaining to a social and economic structure in which land ownership and service obligations were exchanged between nobles and their dependents during the Middle Ages
3. Associated with a hierarchical social system marked by the granting of land by a lord to vassals in return for loyalty and military support

Etymology: The adjective "feudal" carries a surprising trail back to cattle. The Proto-Germanic root "fehu" meant "cattle", and early Germanic speakers measured wealth in livestock. That sense passed into the Frankish "fehu", which came to mean property more broadly, and then into Medieval Latin "feodum" or "feudum", meaning a fief, or land held in return for service. Through Old French "feodal", the idea reached English, where the word now describes the medieval system of land granted by lords to vassals in exchange for military service and loyalty. The word's surface form suggests a link with "feud", as in an estate, plus the adjectival ending "-al". Scholars do not treat that connection as the true origin, however. The real line runs through the Germanic word for cattle and property, so "feudal" and the familiar "fee" share a common root.

Synonyms: feudalistic, medieval, manorial, aristocratic, hierarchical

Antonyms: modern, democratic, egalitarian, capitalistic, social